Page 6 (1/2)

I couldn’t hear anything, though Not a sound Not a peep My hands shook as I peeked through a sliver of space between two of the shelves They were gone Great Now I had no clue whether they’d discovered I’d been listening or not Although I was pretty sure they had, which see

This sucked

One good thing that cah, was that I learned a valuable lesson If you’re going to eavesdrop, don’t get caught, especially when the people you were eavesdropping on just ht be a little off of the rocker

The stuff they were saying…it was so weird Like straight out of a science fiction novel weird

I shookon and I needed to find out what I didn’t kno, though All I kneas that it was extremely important that I did

I could feel it in my bones

Chapter 5

Like always, when I went to bed that night, I got sucked intochased by the glowing-eyed, cloaked creatures in thetook a turn in a different direction

After the monsters had captured ht of the moon, he transforreen eyes glirabbed a hold ofto death like I usually did, I burst into fla in sweat And for a split second, I was convinced I really was on fire So convinced that I had to check my body for burnwas beco too stressful, to the point where I actually considered breaking down and telling Marco and Sophia everything About Alex and Aislin About the electricity Even about the prickle and one downstairs to tell theet the words out, and I was quickly yanked back to reality; the reality that I had no one No one to talk to No one to tell No one to help me

Over the weekend, I tried not to worry about stuff, but it was a worthless effort All I did orry So I decided to search the internet for…well, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, but I hoped I’d knohen I found it Most of my research centered on Alex and Ailsin But when I typed their na that could be directly linked to theain, neither did I But really, as I going to add to ave up and ht up nothing that I could match it up to It was just like when I’d tried to find out about the prickle There was a bunch of scientific stuff, but nothing re between Alex andI had no clue as going on withon with Alex and Aislin Or even who they were It was almost like they’d appeared out of thin air

These unsolved mysteries left me with a o to astrono to fake sick so I could skip out on going to school But that plan went to crap because Sophia hadn’t boughtthe flu She toldmy absence An unexcused absencearound at school, which you all know is notthe astrono to cave in on me at any moment And, just my luck, Alex and Aislin were already at our table They were engaged in what looked like a very heavy conversation I could tell by the seriousness in their expressions, and the way they were leaning in like they were trying to create a barrier between theuess what they were talking about

I gave myself a quick mental pep talk You can do this You can do this You aren’t the one who should be nervous I straightened up my shoulders and started the clihed a hundred pounds each With every step, ht I just ht faint

Luckily, I didn’t

Alex and Aislin didn’t noticeI avoided eye contact with the and took outed out the process of taking lance at Alex He had on a black hooded jacket, and the color of his bright green eyes seeh it could have been fro lowered back at hiht have shocked him, too, because his death stare slipped into a look of puzzleood

Aislin acted the absolute opposite of Alex Her smile shined almost as much as the diamond necklace she had on "Hi, Gemma"

By her overly cheerful tone, I could tell she was feigning being nice to ame and politely smiled back at her However, I think it came off more twitchy and nervous than I wanted Evidently, I sucked at being fake cheerful

Aislin, however, was a pro, her s "Hoas your weekend?"

"Great," I lied, sounding gru said, clapping his hands together to get everyone’s attention "Let’s get started"

And that’s the last thing I heard I tuned everything out as the electricity ignited and preoccupied als evenat me, and continued to do so until the end of class It sucked big time and made me squirm around uncomfortably inand class was diss and hastily shoved the had been in one of his discussion roup tiht as Mr Sterling decided to o," he said He waited for everyone to settle down before continuing "As a group, I want you to complete a project It can be any topic of your choice, just as long as it relates to astronorade, and you’ll have to spend sonored the roans that filled the room "I will need you to tellto be by tomorrow There are more specific instructions in this" He held up a packet of papers "Make sure you pick one up as you leave class so you can start brainstor to do That’s it Class dis the handle ofoverdown until I’d made it safely to my corner of the library

I couldn’t find the book I’d been reading--the one about the girl that had a super power After searching for severalsideways in front of the Encyclopedia’s, which were on the top shelf Noas tall, but not tall enough to reach it Even on o, I still ca ready to make a jump for it, when an eruption of electricity riled up led as I jolted backward

"Need so eyes